


9 - For The Greater Good

by VickeyStar



Series: Whumptober 2020 [9]
Category: Magnum P.I. (TV 2018)
Genre: Burns, Fire, Implied Cannibalism, Injury, Juliet Higgins Angst, Thomas Magnum Whump, Whumptober 2020, graphicish, oof, there's a cult like presence in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:07:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26912641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VickeyStar/pseuds/VickeyStar
Summary: “They’d start by hanging their captives upside down on those wooden racks, collecting their sweat for the priest to be anointed with,” Kumu starts.Juliet frowns in discomfort, Kumu catching it with a smile.“It gets worse. Next, their captive would be beaten until their flesh is smooth. After that, they’re eviscerated, and once disemboweled, their flesh would either be cooked, or eaten raw by the chief of the tribe.”Juliet shudders again.“And you plan on telling this to children?”Kumu looks bemused.“Heavens, no. That’s the story for the parents.”"Take Me Instead" | "Run!" | Human Sacrifice
Relationships: Juliet Higgins & Gordon Katsumoto, Juliet Higgins & Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV, Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV & Gordon Katsumoto
Series: Whumptober 2020 [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946791
Comments: 5
Kudos: 19





	9 - For The Greater Good

**Author's Note:**

> So this is based on ancient Hawaiians, who sacrificed humans to gain the favor of Ku, the god of war and defense, to get victory. It's pretty messed up, not gonna lie.   
> The bad guys here are modern-day idiots who are messed up in the head.   
>  ~ Vic/Sleef

They _really_ need to stop taking cases involving cults.

Juliet jerks to the side again as her cage tilts, being roughly carried on the shoulders of tribal people.

She looks around, trying to ascertain their location, seeing that she and Thomas are being carried through the jungle to their destination.

It looks to be a ruined temple, and she gets a bad feeling, in her stomach.

Juliet glances over to where Magnum is being carried, seeing that he’s already looking her way.

_This won’t end well._

~*~

They’re brought inside of the temple, Juliet getting a vague feeling of recognition as she sees the ritualistic set up in front of them.

Their cages get set down in front of the left wall, and she sees wooden racks and a bonfire in the middle of the room.

A cold shiver settles over her skin.

_Heiau._

She remembers one of the lessons Kumu had given her in the past, mentioning the island’s darker history, with human sacrifice.

“Jules?” Thomas asks, voice at a low murmur as he crouches in his cage.

She moves to lean closer to him in her separate cage, whispering.

“We’re in a Heiau. It’s a temple for sacrifices.”

The clueless fear in his eyes lets her know that he’d zoned out when Kumu had given him the same lecture, and she makes the executive decision to not tell him the rest of what Kumu had mentioned.

“What do we do?” He asks, sitting to lean on the back of his cage.

“Wait.”

Their captors are talking in a language neither of them know, occasionally glancing their way.

~*~

A man enters the temple after a while, clearly marked as the authority of the group, and everyone but the two Private Detectives bow.

The leader looks toward the cages, gesturing and talking at a rapid pace, speaking words that they don’t understand, making others open Juliet’s cage and drag her out.

“Heiau…” Thomas mutters to himself, squinting his eyes and jerking back as a guard shoves a spear between the bamboo bars of the cage.

His eyes widen as they drag her over to one of the wooden racks, suddenly realizing what Juliet had chosen not to mention.

They’re about to strap her in when he finds his voice.

“Wait… WAIT!”

They pause.

“Take me instead.”

Juliet’s sending him panicked looks, likely wondering why he’s talking at all, and the leader’s looking like he’s considering the offer.

Thomas sees Juliet glance around the room, noticing that there’s only a small group of men with them and it’s an easy escape.

She meets his eyes, as the leader speaks to his men.

They bring her back to the cages, making the mistake of opening Magnum’s cage before putting Juliet back in hers.

He jumps out, grabbing at both of the men and knocking them over.

“Run!” He shouts over his shoulder, Juliet clearly hesitant.

“Juliet, go now!”

She runs.

~*~

She doesn’t run _far_ , obviously.

It had seemed like they were getting set up to be sacrificed, a particularly brutal sacrifice.

Juliet pulls the knife from her boot, sneaking around the jungle and cutting some thick vines as she thinks.

_“They’d start by hanging their captives upside down on those wooden racks, collecting their sweat for the priest to be anointed with,” Kumu starts._

_Juliet frowns in discomfort, Kumu catching it with a smile._

_“It gets worse. Next, their captive would be beaten until their flesh is smooth. After that, they’re eviscerated, and once disemboweled, their flesh would either be cooked, or eaten raw by the chief of the tribe.”_

_Juliet shudders again._

_“And you plan on telling this to children?”_

_Kumu looks bemused._

_“Heavens, no. That’s the story for the parents.”_

Juliet snaps out of her memories, finishing her makeshift weapons of branches and vines.

She glances back over at the temple, hoping Thomas has been able to stall long enough for her to plan her rescue.

She sees one of the men sent out to find her, his sharpened spear reflecting in the dim light of the sunset.

It’s easy to sneak behind him, wrapping a vine around his neck and waiting as he struggles in silence.

Once she’s sure he’s unconscious, she snaps his spear and continues on.

She’s taken out three more of the small group, when a breeze carries the scent of cooking meat.

She doesn’t hesitate, breaking into a sprint and swinging her branch at the first person who tries to stop her as she enters the temple.

Thomas is there, looking thoroughly bashed and beaten, tied to a wooden pole and surrounded by flames.

Juliet’s eyes widen, and instinct takes over as she steals a spear and takes out anyone who gets between her and the fire.

Putting the sharp end of the spear directly against the leader’s throat, she lifts an eyebrow.

“Tell them to put out the fire.”

She sees the fear in his eyes, and all it does is remind her of the fear she saw in her friend’s, a few hours ago.

“Do it _now_.”

He rapidly speaks, stumbling over his words as she glares, and suddenly his followers are scrambling to find fire extinguishers, a strange sight, in an abandoned temple.

She doesn’t wait, ordering the leader to hand over a phone, calling Katsumoto on the sat phone he gets her.

_“Hello?”_

“Gordon. It’s me. Thomas is hurt, badly. You need to trace this call and get here, now. They tried to kill him.”

She leaves the phone on, tossing some of the vines she’d collected earlier to the men and ordering them to tie each other up.

She doesn’t know _why_ they obey her, seeing the fact that they could easily overpower her if they truly wanted to, but she doesn’t care to figure it out as she checks on her partner.

“Magnum. Wake up.”

His skin is covered with bruises and burns, Juliet not knowing where to touch.

“You. Go get a medical kit. If you don’t come back, _I’ll find you_.”

One of the men scurries off, further into the temple.

“Thomas. You need to wake up.”

She doesn’t get a response.

_“Thomas.”_

She bites the bullet, and puts her fingers on his neck.

She doesn’t feel a pulse.

Throwing caution to the wind, she puts her ear to his chest, ignoring the heat radiating off of his burnt skin.

Juliet has never heard a louder silence.

She immediately starts CPR, ignoring everything around her as she counts beats and breaths.

At some point, Katsumoto arrives with paramedics, but she hasn’t stopped trying.

“Come on, Thomas. Get up. Get up eight,” she chants under her breath, essentially pounding against his chest, at this point.

“Higgins.”

She ignores him.

_“Juliet.”_

Katsumoto’s hand moves to cover hers, his other going onto her shoulder.

“He’s gone.”

She stays still for a moment, before crumbling back and leaning into her friend’s side.

Tears stream down her cheeks, her abnormally warm hands covered in blood and other gunk that she doesn’t want to know about.

They stay there for a time, nobody bothering them as the two just sit and _grieve_.

edn


End file.
